Activist Shaun King, who Time Magazine called one of the 25 most influential people on the internet in 2018, put out a call on LinkedIn on Sunday for a “robust pro-bono legal team” to sue those who he believes have slandered him.
“I’d like to form a robust pro-bono legal team to work on defamation cases of people promoting complete fabrications about me,” King wrote. It’s libel and slander. I need to be able to focus on my work while a legal team pursues our options,” he said in the post.
The call for pro bono—that is to say, free—legal work from King, who rose to prominence in 2015 for highlighting cases of police brutality during the Black Lives Matter movement, has led his critics to once again accuse him of using activism to enrich himself.
“I was really skeptical when he started posting content about Palestine, and I don’t even follow him but my peers were sharing them on Instagram,” posted @phototariat on X. “After what he did with Tamir Rice’s family, I never really trusted what he will do next after that.”
King was criticized by Samaria Rice in 2021 for fundraising off her son Tamir’s death. Tamir was shot to death in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014 by a police officer who claimed he mistook the toy gun in Tamir’s hands for a real one.
“Well we talked and everything that was said was very toxic and uncomfortable for me to hear that you raised additional money and then say you did not want… to bother me,” Samaria Rice said at the time in an Instagram post, reported Newsweek. “Personally I don’t understand how you sleep at night. I never gave you permission to raise nothing. [A]long with the united states, you robbed me for the death of my son.”
In recent months, King has focused his activism on Israel’s targeting of civilians in Gaza. The activist has launched fundraisers which have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, purportedly to provide food aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip who the European Union says are facing famine conditions.
Last week, King announced he was converting to Islam at the start of the religious holiday Ramadan before promoting a five-city “Uncensored Tour” with tickets selling for $60-$125 a pop.
King attributed the conversion, which he made with his wife at a mosque in Texas, to the “suffering and pain and trauma that we’ve seen in Gaza. So many men and women and families there have welcomed me as their friend and have allowed me to walk with them through their grief and their pain, but also through their faith, and strength, and resilience.”
On X, King’s conversion attracted skepticism, with posters wondering how the tour, which features law professor Khaled A. Beydoun and rapper Macklemore, would help people in Gaza.
“someone please explain how these two will bring us hope during times of genocide and how it will aid gaza (the website doesn’t say, i checked),” posted @samah_fadil.
King’s pro bono legal aid request was greeted with the same lack of enthusiasm and a skeptical eye on LinkedIn.
“Let me get this right … you want people to give you their legal labour for free so that, umm, you can continue to get paid for your own labour?” posted Carl Joseph.
“I am trying to understand the following,” asked Antoinette Toni Samaha Steer. “a. Is this about people requesting more transparency regarding how the funds you are raising for Gaza will be used? b. Will you be using your own funds to pay this legal team?”
King didn’t respond to questions about what the allegations being made against him are and who in particular he wants to take legal action against.
But while some people were upset by the move, others found it ridiculous enough to be funny.
“HE WANTS THE LAWYERS TO WORK FOR FREE LOOOOOOL,” posted @ronmexicuh on X.
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